注意： 1. 续写词数应为150左右； 2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
She was the prettiest puppy we had ever seen, and the whole family immediately fell in love with her. We named her Onyx because of her black, shiny black coat. She spent her first vacation with us when she was only ten weeks old and had her first bath and swim in the St. Lawrence River. We had no clue that this amazing little ball of fur would end up being our hero.
As she grew older, Onyx became more and more involved in our family activities. On hot summer days, Onyx enjoyed floating on the river with us in her own rubber tube (橡皮圈). Amazingly standing on the top of the tube, she smiled while showing off her perfect balance. Resting her front legs and paws over the edge of the rubber tube, she kept her eyes shut as she floated until she’d had enough of the warm sun on her black coat.
One day, our eighteen-year-old daughter, Margie, announced she was going to swim across the bay. No one in the family was free to go swimming with her. The unwritten rules, regardless of swimming ability, was to have a companion in the water with you, especially when swimming the width of the bay. I was not a good swimmer, so I said to Margie, “Take Onyx with you.” Having heard her name, Onyx woke up from a nap and was ready for action. Margie signed the dog to follow her. Onyx ran to the water next to her. They entered the freezing river together and swam side by side across the bay.
I watched from the bank as they reached the sandbar (沙洲) on the far shore. They rested a few minutes before diving into the water for the return trip. I felt uneasy for some reason and continued to watch the pair swim side by side.
Suddenly I heard Margie calling out, “I have a cram (痉挛) in the leg! ”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Seeing the pair approaching the riverbank, I breathed a sigh of relief.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . Psychologists have long been in disagreement as to whether competition is a learned or a genetic component of human behavior. Whatever it is, you cannot but recognize the effect competition has on academics and many other areas of contemporary life.
Psychologically speaking, competition has been seen as an unavoidable consequence of human drives. According to Sigmund Freud, humans are born screaming for attention and full of organic drives for fulfillment in various areas. Initially, we compete for the attention of our parents.
Current work in anthropology (人类学) has suggested, however, that this view of the role of competition in human behavior may be a fallacy. Thomas Hobbes, one of the great philosophers of the seventeenth century, is perhaps best remembered for his characterization of the “natural world”, that is, the world before the introduction of the will of humanity, as being unpleasant and short. This opinion is still widely held, reinforced by Charles Darwin’s highly influential work, The Origin of Species, which established the doctrine (学说) of natural selection. Darwin’s theory has even been summarized as “survival of the fittest”-a phrase Darwin himself never used-further highlighting competition’s role in success. As it has often been pointed out, however, there is nothing in the concept of natural selection that suggests that competition is the most successful strategy for “survival of the fittest”. Darwin said in The Origin of Species that the struggles he was describing should be viewed as metaphors and couldn’t be separated from dependence and cooperation.
Many studies have been conducted to test the importance placed on competition rather than other values, such as cooperation, and generally conclude that Americans uniquely praise competition as natural, unavoidable, and desirable. In 1937, the world-renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead published Cooperation and Competition among Primitive Peoples, based on her studies of several societies that did not prize competition, and, in fact, seemed at times to place a negative value on it. One such society was the Zuni Indians of Arizona, and they, Mead found, valued cooperation far more than competition. After studying dozens of such cultures, Mead’s final conclusion was that competitiveness is a culturally created aspect of human behavior, and that its popularity in a particular society is relative to how that society values it.
1. What does the author think is commonly seen in many areas of contemporary life?| A．The origin of human drives. |
| B．The influence of competition. |
| C．The reasons for human behaviour. |
| D．The disagreement on competition. |
| A．A false idea. |
| B．A hard nut. |
| C．A losing battle. |
| D．A mixed blessing. |
| A．All species depend on others for survival. |
| B．The strongest species proves to be the fittest. |
| C．Struggles for survival include support of each other. |
| D．Competition is looked on as the best survival strategy. |
| A．It is characteristic of humans to be competitive. |
| B．Americans are uniquely opposed to cooperation. |
| C．Competition is relatively more popular in Western societies. |
| D．People’s attitude towards competition is actually culture-bound. |
3 . Many economists predict 2024 will be the time shoppers tighten their belts. That doesn’t mean people will stop spending, say retail (零售) analysts. But it will change what they choose to buy. With a slowing job market, global consumers are likely to move away from more high-priced purchases and focus instead on smaller, less expensive treats.
The economic uncertainty means that consumers are becoming more discriminating about their purchases, says Ethan Chermofsky, senior vice president of marketing at intelligence platform Placer. ai. “There are the things we decide are necessary, and then there’s another category of things that aren’t necessary but that we consider affordable luxuries, he says. This desire for these “affordable luxuries” is common in difficult economic times. Some economists refer to the phenomenon as the “lipstick index”: a small economic increase led by budget-minded consumers seeking out relatively affordable splurges (挥霍), like small cosmetics (化妆品).
Analysts at Deloitte say consumers will spend on little luxuries like specialty coffees and snacks as well. Additionally, stressed-out shoppers are prioritizing small splurge purchases for wellness and personal care.
As retailers see shoppers turning to little luxuries, they’re offering more and more of them. Target, for example, has staked a flag in what they refer to as “affordable joy”, which includes a selection of self-care and cosmetic products, along with wellness-centric beauty products. Beyond diversifying their offerings, stores are also bringing in luxury-feeling products at lower price points to appeal to more consumers.
Ethan says not every shopper will shift their spending to little luxuries-but even those who are still longing for the “must-haves” of social media will also look to get a deal. They want the feeling of purchasing lower-priced affordable treats. To get these goods, shoppers are likely to tap into the re-sale market for designer items at a more reasonable price. They want things that make them feel good about themselves-they just want to do it without breaking the bank.
1. What can affordable luxuries be?| A．Inexpensive daily necessities. | B．High-end products. |
| C．Reasonably-priced designer items. | D．High-priced purchases. |
| A．The strategies retailers use. | B．The joy businesses offer. |
| C．The competition stores face. | D．The products consumers buy. |
| A．Social-media deals. | B．World-famous brands. |
| C．Second-hand bargains. | D．Budget-friendly pleasures. |
| A．Lipstick Index: Where Does It Lead Us? | B．Must-have Treats: A Future Spending Trend |
| C．Affordable Joy: Will We Fall Into The Trap? | D．Little Luxuries: A Driving Force Behind Consumption |
4 . In recent years, much of my life as a consumer has shifted to what I like to call background. As I’ve subscribed to more apps and streaming platforms, significant sums of my money tend to slip away each month without my ever thinking about it.
Think of it as an automated trade. Spending without the trouble of spending. Acquaint ion without action. Or thought.
But while this flood of subscriptions was sold to me on the condition that it would make my life more trouble-free, there was a certain shock I felt upon discovering how much I was spending without realizing each month ($179.45).
You see, the thing about background spending is that it tends to happen, well, in the background without your full attention. And there lies the point.
“Hand over your credit card details and let us take care of the rest,” these companies promote. But by again sing their name, we’ve become lazy, positive consumers. And this laziness breeds (导致) more laziness because most of us can’t be bothered with conducting regular reviews of our subscription spending. We’re too lazy to even notice or cancel it!
I know it’s not just me who is suddenly living life as a smart-braised subscriber. The average consumer spends $273 per month on subscriptions, according to a 2021 study of 2,500 by digital services firm West Morose. Not a single person surveyed knew what his actually monthly spending was.
It’s understandable why this model is so attractive to businesses. As companies questioned traditional advertising models, subscription offered the promise of “selling once and earning forever.” And while subscription services have been around for decades (think Wine of the Month Club), more customers have been willing to sign up thanks to the widespread availability of smartphones and the increasing ease of home delivery.
While these subscription promise ease and happiness, not all of us are satisfied. Last year, the Kameny Institute found 40 percent of consumer believe they have too many subscriptions. Almost half of us also think we pay too much for streaming video-on-demand subscriptions.
1. What can we know about background spending in paragraph 2?| A．Its purpose. | B．Its feature. | C．Its procedure. | D．Its requirement. |
| A．Its attractive price. | B．Some people’s poor habit. |
| C．Its secure service. | D．Some people’s addiction to it. |
| A．It offers good home delivery services. |
| B．It is like traditional advertising models. |
| C．It is popular among smartphone producers. |
| D．It brings repeated profits through a single sale. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Critical. | D．Unclear. |
5 . Almost half a billion small, cheap electrical everyday items from headphones to handheld fans ended up in landfill in the UK in the past year, according to research.
The not-for-profit organization Material Focus, which conducted the research, said the scale of the issue was huge and they wanted to encourage more recycling.
More than half a billion cheaply priced electronic goods were bought in the UK in the past year alone - 16 per second. Material Focus findings showed that of these items, 471m were thrown away. This included 260m disposable vapes, 26m cables, 29m LED, solar and decorative lights, 9.8m USB sticks, and 4.8m miniature fans.
Scott Butler, executive director at Material Focus, described it as “fast tech“. He said, “People should think carefully about buying some of the more frivolous items in the first place.” He said the items people bought were often “cheap and small”, and that consumers may not realize they contain valuable materials that could be salvaged if recycled.
Small electricals can contain precious materials including copper, lithium and stainless steel. These components can be recycled and used in wind turbines, medical devices and electric vehicles. Material Focus said that while people were used to the idea of recycling larger electrical items such as fridges, lots of smaller devices were left unused in houses.
Butler said, “We want to get the message across that anything with a plug, battery or cable can be recycled and there’s somewhere near you to do it. The scale of the issue is huge, but there’s an easy solution-just as the trend for recycling and repurposing fashion has grown and grown, we want to encourage the nation to recycle fast tech, guilt-free and fuss-free.”
Material Focus said that when consumers bought a cheap item, they saw it as disposable. They estimate that UK citizens spent more than f2.8bn on these cheap products in the past year. The non-profit group described it as“the tip of the iceberg”when it comes to the growing issue of wasted electricals in the UK. More than 100,000 tonnes of waste electricals are thrown away every year, and there are 880m electrical items of all kinds lying unused in UK homes.
1. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?| A．The research was carried out by the authorities to encourage recycling |
| B．Cheaply priced electronic goods are easy to be thrown away around the world |
| C．Disposable vapes made up the majority of cheap electrical goods that ended up in landfill |
| D．British people are inclined to buy cheap electrical goods |
| A．Cheap items don’t deserve consumer’s careful use |
| B．Valuable materials can be found in these cheap and small electrical goods |
| C．Low-quality electrical goods are easy to be recycled |
| D．Consumers should stop buying these “fast tech”in the first place |
| A．They’d better recycle small devices as well as larger ones |
| B．They’d better set up somewhere near them to do the recycling |
| C．They’d better catch the trend of disposing small and cheap items |
| D．They’d better spread the idea of “fast tech” |
| A．Tons of small and cheap electrical items are thrown away |
| B．Lcgal efforts should be made to ban small electrical items |
| C．“Fast Tech”-the future generation |
| D．Recycling valuable materials from electronics is urgent |
6 . Proper questioning has become a lost art. The curious four-year-old asks a lot of questions-incessant streams of “Why?” and “Why not?“ might sound familiar-but as we grow older, our questioning decreases. In a recent survey of more than 200 of our clients, we found that those with children estimated that 70-80% of their kids’ dialogues with others were comprised of questions. But those same clients said that only 15-25% of their own interactions consisted of questions. Why the drop of?
Think back to your time growing up and in school. Chances are you received the most recognition or reward when you got the correct answers. Later in life, that motivator continues. At work, we often reward those who answer questions, not those who ask them. Questioning conventional wisdom can even lead to being distanced, or considered a threat.
Because expectations for decision-making have gone from ”get it done soon“ to ”get it done now“ to ”it should have been done yesterday, “ we tend to jump to conclusions instead of asking more questions. And the unfortunate side effect of not asking enough questions is poor decision-making. That’s why it’s vital that we slow down and take the time to ask more and better questions. At best, we’ll arrive at better conclusions. At worst we’ll avoid a lot of rework later on.
Aside from not speaking up enough, many professionals don’t think about how different types of questions can lead to different outcomes. We should lead a conversation by asking the right kinds of questions, based on the problem we’re trying to solve. In some cases, we’ll want to expand our view of the problem rather than keeping it narrowly focused. In others, we may want to challenge basic assumptions or confirm our understanding in order to feel more confident in our conclusions. Therefore, asking the right kinds of questions is what counts in achieving a goal.
1. What does the underlined word ”incessant“ in paragraph 1 most probably mean?| A．Constant. | B．Random. | C．Noisy. | D．Innocent. |
| A．One poses a threat to the company if they ask questions. |
| B．Those who ask questions don’t necessarily get positive feedback. |
| C．One doesn’t have as many opportunities as they did in childhood. |
| D．Those who question popular beliefs don’t have interpersonal skills. |
| A．Redoing is unavoidable despite thoughtful questions. |
| B．Better questions can surely result in desirable outcomes. |
| C．Some people think it can’t be too fast to make a decision. |
| D．We’ll make reasonable decisions as long as we ask questions. |
| A．Proper questions that should be raised. |
| B．Important goals that we are to achieve. |
| C．Right kinds of answers to the questions. |
| D．The reasons for the loss of questioning art. |
7 . I came across an image recently of a distance runner with a message that told readers to persevere (坚持) at all costs. It reminded me of a conversation I had. My colleague’s teaching assistant was asking for my advice. He wanted to know when to quit something. He described how he’d been playing an online game with people for some time. It hadn’t been very fun lately, but there was always that small chance of a reward (upgraded equipment, etc).
I inquired further about his relationship with the players and his gains from the game. I then discussed the sunk cost dilemma, a concept I studied in advanced school due to its personal impact. In high school, I applied to five universities, planning to choose the cheapest one. SUU offered the best scholarship, and after paying a $100 commitment fee, I heard back from another school with an even better scholarship. Despite the new offer, I stayed committed to SUU, believing that switching schools, even if it meant acknowledging the “wasted” $ 100, would have been the wiser financial choice.
A rational (理性的) decision maker is not ruled by past investments, but weighs future outcomes. I didn’t focus on future outcomes when weighing colleges. I focused on the money I sunk into SUU. Rather than evaluating future career options, I focused on the fact that I’d already taken elementary education courses.
I’m not the only one that’s fallen prey to this. I wear clothes I dislike simply because I spent money on them (and that money won’t come back). Unhealthy relationships last because of the invested time (leading to more unhappy years). However, time, effort, or money that you’ve invested doesn’t mean you should continue. Society often stresses perseverance — never quit, never give up, don’t waste. However, only you know your right path. Walking away can be the toughest choice. You might realize a path you’re on is no longer the right one or never was.
1. Why does the author introduce a distance runner’s image at first?| A．To make a contrast. | B．To give a definition. |
| C．To draw a conclusion. | D．To illustrate a theory. |
| A．Following suit as most people. | B．Taking elementary education. |
| C．Valuing the development in future. | D．Overlooking past investments. |
| A．Get benefits from. | B．Be harmed by. | C．Be interested in. | D．Get rid of. |
| A．Perseverance is a virtue | B．The chosen path is the toughest |
| C．Cut your losses for your winners | D．Walking away means losing all |
8 . Phonics, which involves sounding out words syllable (音节) by syllable, is the best way to teach children to read. But in many classrooms, this can be a dirty word. So much so that some teachers have had to take phonics teaching materials secretly into the classroom. Most American children are taught to read in a way that study after study has found to be wrong.
The consequences of this are striking. Less than half of all American adults were efficient readers in 2017. American fourth graders rank 15th on the Progress in International Literacy Study, an international exam.
America is stuck in a debate about teaching children to read that has been going on for decades. Some advocate teaching symbol sound relationships (the sound k can be spelled as c, k, ck, or ch) known as phonics Others support an immersive approach (using pictures of cat to learn the word cat), known as “whole language”. Most teachers today, almost three out of four according to a survey by EdWeek Research Centre in 2019, use a mix of the two methods called “balanced literacy”.
“A little phonics is far from enough.” says Tenette Smith, executive director of elementary education and reding at Mississippi’s education department. “It has to be systematic and explicitly taught.”
Mississippi, often behind in social policy, has set an example here. In a state once blamed for its low reading scores, the Mississippi state legislature passed new literacy standards in 2013.Since then Mississippi has seen remarkable gains., Its fourth graders have moved from 49th (out of 50 states) to 20th on the National assessment of Educational Progress, a nationwide exam.
Mississippi’s success is attributed to application of reading methods supported by a body of research known as the science of reading. In 1997 experts from the Department of Education ended the “reading war” and summed up the evidence. They found that phonics, along with explicit instruction in phonemic (音位的) awareness, fluency and comprehension, worked best.
Yet over two decades on, “balanced literacy” is still being taught in classrooms. But advances in statistics and brain imaging have disproved the whole-language method. To the teacher who is an efficient reader, literacy seem like a natural process that requires educated guessing, rather than the deliberate process emphasized by phonics. Teachers can imagine that they learned to read through osmosis(潜移默化) when they were children. Without proper training, they bring this to classrooms.
1. What do we learn about phonics in many American classrooms?| A．It is ill reputed. | B．It is mostly misapplied. |
| C．It is totally ignored. | D．It is seemingly contradictory. |
| A．A burning passion for improving teaching methods. |
| B．A lasting debate over how to teach children to read. |
| C．An increasing concern with children’s inadequacy in literacy. |
| D．A forceful advocacy of a combined method for teaching reading. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Enthusiastic. | C．Unclear. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．Focusing on the natural process rather than deliberate training. |
| B．Obtaining support from other states to upgrade teaching methods. |
| C．Adopting scientifically grounded approaches to teaching reading. |
| D．Placing sufficient emphasis upon both fluency and comprehension. |
I’ve always known that I’m very quick with my hands. If someone throws something, I catch it almost before I’m aware it has been thrown. When I was young, I had no idea how useful this skill would become.
Last week, I was going to visit a friend with her newborn and was on my way to a toy store to buy a gift. I’d once lived in the neighbourhood and I decided to head back to my old cupcake shop for a coffee. Sitting alone at a table outside with my drink, I was approached by an older man, who in a calm and very matter-of-fact way told me to call 911, because there was a baby on a fire escape.
I jumped up to see where the baby was. I was so surprised to see it, wearing a little onesie (连体衣) and lying on the fire escape railings (栏杆) between the second and third storeys. I was nervous, so the baby boy became my only priority.
As I was on the phone to the emergency services, I made eye contact with the child, keeping him calm, telling him to stay there. Some people were going up the stairs to find the parents, who were apparently sleeping through the whole drama.
I just wanted the child to feel safe. I hoped he’d stay there until somebody could rescue him. Apparently he had slipped through pieces of cardboard placed next to an air-conditioning unit in the window, and without bars to protect him he’d crawled (爬) out and up the fire escape towards the next storey. He was only 16 months old. For him to even climb up and balance in that position was incredible.
Then he slipped. Instinctively (本能), he grabbed on the railing as he fell, hanging by his arms. I knew he couldn’t hold on, 25 feet above the street, for long. I sensed people had gathered behind, but my attention was purely focused on my intention to catch the baby.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I made sure I was positioned to catch him.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The moments after he was saved were exciting.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________10 . Creative people are more likely to make the most of their idle (空闲的) time during a typical day by exploring their mind, a new study by University of Arizona researchers suggests.
In the study, the researchers divided the study into two parts. For the first experiment, the researchers asked each participant to sit alone in a room for 10 minutes without any access to digital devices. In the absence of any particular prompt (提示), the participants were asked to speak out their thoughts aloud in real time. The recorded files from 81 participants were then analyzed.
The researchers assessed the participants’ creativity through a thinking test, a lab-based verbal test that measures a person’s ability to think outside of the box. Participants who performed well in the thinking test had thoughts that flowed freely and were associated with one another, often indicated by phrases such as “this reminds me of” or “speaking of which”.
“While many participants had a tendency to jump between seemingly unrelated thoughts, creative individuals showed signs of thinking more associatively,” Raffaeli said, who was a senior author of the paper.
The first experiment also found that creative people were more engaged in their thoughts when they were left alone without distractions (干扰), such as the cellphone and Internet. “Creative people rated themselves as being less bored, even over those 10 minutes. They also spoke more words overall, which indicated that their thoughts were more likely to move freely,” Raffaeli said.
To further prove their initial findings, the researchers extended their study in the context of a much larger span of time—from 2020 to 2023 when many people were alone with their thoughts more often. For the second experiment, over 2,600 adults answered questions through a smartphone app called Mind Window. Participants who self-identified as being creative reported being less bored and more engaged in their thoughts during that period.
The researchers are continuing this line of work using their Mind Window app. They encourage people to download and use the app to help scientists understand how people across the world think in their everyday lives. “Understanding why different people think the way they do may lead to promising interventions to improve health and well-being,” Raffaeli said.
1. What were the participants asked to do in the first experiment?| A．Play digital devices for just 10 minutes. |
| B．Voice their thoughts quickly when asked. |
| C．Observe and record each other’s performance. |
| D．Make self-assessment in a thinking test. |
| A．They often had associated ideas. |
| B．They thought of anything as a reminder. |
| C．They preferred to sit alone without being distracted. |
| D．They tended to jump between unrelated thoughts. |
| A．To analyze their own thoughts. | B．To try out the function of the app. |
| C．To keep track of their thinking. | D．To improve their own mental well-being. |
| A．Idle Time Makes Creative People |
| B．Creative Thoughts Appear in Idle Time |
| C．Creative People Are Less Affected by Distraction |
| D．Creative People Enjoy Idle Time More Than Others |
